Prognostic impact of CD34 and SMA in cancer‐associated fibroblasts in stage I–III NSCLC

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial step in lung cancer pathogenesis. Among others, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are reported to regulate this process. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prognostic and clinical impact, we analyzed CD34+ and SMA+ CAFs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Retrospectively, immunohistochemistry was performed to study stromal protein expression of both CD34 and SMA in 304 NSCLC patients with pTNM stage I-III disease. All tissue samples were embedded on tissue microarrays (TMAs). RESULTS: Our analysis revealed an association for CD34+ CAFs with G1/2 tumors and adenocarcinoma histology. Moreover CD34+ CAFs were identified as an independent prognostic factor (both for progression free survival [PFS] and overall survival [OS] in stage I-III NSCLC). Besides, SMA+ expression correlated with higher pTNM-tumor stages and lymphatic spread (pN stage). In turn, SMA-negativity was associated with improved PFS, but no prognostic impact was found on OS. Of interest, neither CD34+ CAFs nor SMA+ CAFs were associated with the primary tumor size, localization and depth of infiltration (pT stage). CONCLUSIONS: CD34 was identified as an independent prognostic marker in pTNM stage I-III NSCLC. Moreover, loss of CD34+ CAFs might influence the dedifferentiation of the NSCLC tumor from its cell origin. Finally, SMA+ CAFs are more prevalent in NSCLC tumors of higher stages and lymphonodal positive NSCLC. KEY POINTS: Expression of CD34 on cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) is an independent prognostic factor in stage I-III NSCLC. SMA+ cancer associated fibroblasts are associated with higher tumor stages in NSCLC and might contribute to tumor progression in NSCLC.